


feels like forever, even if forever's tonight

by banelands



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post 1x06, Underage Drinking, holiday fic, is that still considered something that needs to be tagged?, karolina hits a vodka bottle like a pro so, maybe angsty who knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 18:03:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13129020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banelands/pseuds/banelands
Summary: Some potential good ol' Deanoru at the Pride Christmas party





	feels like forever, even if forever's tonight

**Author's Note:**

> this is typical dumb christmas bullshit, but it's MY christmas bullshit so hopefully you enjoy it. any mistakes are my own. (also there might be a spacing issue on desktop, but i'm in a rush so I'll fix it later)

The Wilder’s house is, of course, the location of the Pride’s annual Christmas party. Alex had sent their groupchat pictures of the decorators crawling over the interior and exterior of the house, carrying ladders and boxes. Seeing it now, lit up like a palace in twinkling gold lights, Karolina is hit by the old sense of security that came with this annual tradition—despite the uncertainty of the past few weeks.

She, her mother, and Frank walk up the lighted front pathway and towards the wreath-covered front door. As they reach the steps, a voice calls out behind them.

“Karolina!” It’s Nico, pacing quickly away from her parents, who follow her reluctantly and several feet apart from each other. There is a distinct look of ‘Save me!’ plastered on Nico’s face as she all but sprints to Karolina’s side with a bag clutched in her hands. “Thank God we got here at the same time,” she mumbles. “I couldn’t handle another minute of being a third wheel to Divorce Court.”

Karolina glances back at the Minorus’ strained expressions as they walk up the pathway. Her own parents have already gone into the house, sucked into the vortex of champagne and piano music that filtered out into the night.

“Come on,” she says. “Let’s go in.”

“Do we have to?” Nico mumbles, casting her eyes to the pattern of the walkway. The Minorus’ glide past them with their classic air of authority, but Karolina wants to flinch away from the dark cloud of tension that passes with them. It sets the hairs on her arm on end. Then again, so does Nico.

“Are you okay?” She asks, because her heart is clenching at the way Nico’s long eyelashes are casting shadows on her cheeks in the light of the house. Something within her screams at her to reach out, like Nico had for her, but she’s scared, so scared.

“I’m fine,” Nico laughs without a shred of humor. “My dad having an affair isn’t the worst thing that’s happened this year.”

Karolina frowns, “That doesn’t matter. It’s okay to be upset.”

“Our parents killed a girl and I’m more freaked out that my dad has been hooking up with Chase’s mom.”

“Nico…” Karolina feels her jaw click with words she wants to say but can’t quite form. She lets her hand flutter down on Nico’s shoulder instead.  “Hey, when I was freaking out about my mom, you told me we needed to stick together.” She squeezes Nico’s shoulder and ducks her head to search for her eyes. “I’ll stick by you through whatever.”

A shaky breath clatters through Nico. Under Karolina’s watchful gaze, piece by piece, her hard exterior falls into place, blocking out the overwhelming sadness that had peeked through the cracks. Karolina slides her hand off and lets it fall back to her side, trying not to feel like she wants to stick her bare hands in the Wilder’s front lawn and start tearing the grass out by the root.

“Let’s get this over with.” Nico mutters. Karolina swallows down the lump in her throat and turns to start her path to the front door. Before she can take a step, Nico’s hand catches hers, and she turns to see that the mask has fallen ever so slightly. “Karolina,” she says. “Thank you.”

Karolina smiles, “Anytime.”

They walk into the party shoulder to shoulder. Their parents have already disappeared in the tightly huddled groups of rich Pride supporters and their family members. The spiced smell of mulled wine invades their noses from the several bowls of it scattered around different locations in the house. It was a staple of any Pride holiday party, along with promises of checks and favors traded like presents at the foot of the giant Christmas tree dominating the Wilder’s foyer.

“I might need to grab some of that wine.” Nico whispers. Karolina snorts and gently guides her away from the nearest bowl.

The others are already waiting for them in the living room.

“All black at Christmas, Nico? I’ve seen you in red a few times, I know you’re holding out on us.” Chase says from where he sprawls on one of the couches in the living room. Gert occupies the other side.

“Hey! Don’t forget Hanukkah exists. She’s avoiding the color blue, too.” Gert pokes the toe of her show into Chase’s leg. From her spot sitting on the floor, Molly makes a face at them and refocuses her energy into getting the tight plastic wrapping off of a candy cane without breaking it.

“True, my bad. Let’s settle with anti-holiday spirit in general.”

Nico crosses her arms, “The wiccan faith celebrates the Yule at this time of year, so I am celebrating something. I’m just anti-this gooey ‘Christmas spirit’ shit.”

“Well, I think Christmas is kind of beautiful, even though Gibborim celebrates it a little differently. The lights and the warmth are…nice.” Karoline says. She quickly shifts her gaze onto Molly and holds out her hand. “Here, toss me that.”

“I just think it’s weird that we’re all smiling and laughing after everything that’s happened.” Alex mutters. He’s scrunched into a chair, his face creased with the stormy look that had been appearing more and more frequently. He has a right to be that way—they all do—but he seems to struggle to hide it the most.

Karolina feels Nico shift by her side, probably towards Alex. She busies herself with peeling the plastic off the candy cane for Molly and hands it back over to her without looking at either of them.

“You know, I kind of wish it would snow in LA, like, ever,” she says, instead of acknowledging the big, murderous elephant in the room. “I don’t think I’ve seen a snowfall since I was a little kid.”

Brentwood had its share of beautiful Christmas lights on all the gorgeous, sprawling homes that made up the neighborhood, but the ever-present palm trees and balmy temperatures had never really sold the spirit of the season to Karolina. It was a bit like the rest of LA, really—vibrant but lacking something truly authentic.

“I hate the snow unless I’m snowboarding.” Chase says, reclining back. “Too cold.”

“I think it’s pretty!” Molly pipes in around the candy cane shoved high into her cheek. Karolina points to Molly in agreement and gives her a thumbs up. She wasn’t a huge fan of the cold either, but the Christmas movie images of fluffy white banks and delicate flakes drifting down from the sky still held a special place in her heart.

Alex rubs at his temples. “Not that this conversation about snow isn’t riveting,” he says, “but I think I’d like to start drinking.”

“I second that.” Nico says, taking charge and heading for the nearest unsupervised wine bowl. Alex is quick of his chair to follow her, as is Chase. Karoline, Gert, and Molly go too, though Gert shoots down Molly’s repeated requests for a drink. Alex pours decent glasses and passes them out.

“Okay, guys. Down them and then let’s act normal for a few hours.”

The challenge isn’t acting normal, though. The challenge is shaking hands and smiling and not allowing herself to forget the dungeon under their feet as the wine dulls her senses. She has to make a dedicated effort to avoid her mother so she can’t smell the alcohol on her breath. Frank gives her a look when she sees him in passing, but he doesn’t say anything.

They all kind of stay as a group anyways, so it’s easier to avoid getting trapped in a conversation with some elderly Pride supporter. Maybe this is their new normal; roaming around in a loosely-connected herd because the option of being alone is too daunting to deal with. Gert talks about the blatant commercialization of the holiday season to benefit big corporations, which they all get her to agree to lighten up on and have a bit more mulled wine. They use the living room as a home base, wandering back in there when they need to regroup.  

Nico is quiet. The wine has brought a pretty flush to her cheeks, one that compliments her makeup very nicely. Alex’s hands ghost over her back occasionally and Karolina’s stomach twists. Only once does she do the same, brushing over Nico’s shoulder again when she sees Mr. Minoru and Mrs. Minoru talking in entirely different groups of people, with their backs turned to each other.

“If you want me to call you a Lyft home, I can do that.” Karolina says to Nico as the two of them stand over the wine bowl. The others are back on the couch, talking about some TV show that Karolina could barely follow with wine in her system.

“No. I’m fine.”

“Okay.” Karolina concedes. “I just want you to know it’s okay to be sad about your parents. You don’t have to hide that from me.”

She contemplates pouring herself another drink, but decides against it. Her head is light, but she can’t afford to let it get muddled. She’s about to walk away when a hand on her wrist freezes her in place.

“Hey,” Nico’s hand wraps around hers, smooth and warm. “Come with me.”

There is a set of tall bay doors at the end of the living room that lead out into the backyard. Nico drags Karolina away from the wine, through the doors, and into the backyard, away from the sounds of the party. It’s been dark for hours, and after a spending most of the night inside the brightness of the Wilder’s home, spots dance in front of her eyes.

“Nico, what…”

“Just follow me.” Nico twists around to look at her. “Trust me.”

The thing is, Karolina would trust Nico if she was leading them off the edge of a cliff. There isn’t much of a question in her mind about that. What does make her nervous is the jumpy beat of her heart and the fear that Nico can feel her pulse spiking through the skin of her hand.

Nico pulls her to the patio of the guest house, far away from the party and their friends. The barest hint of golden light touches them, but their surroundings are mostly in shadow. Nico starts rummaging through her bag while Karolina rocks back and forth on her heels.

“Is this something about our parents…?”

“No, no.” Nico says, as she pulls the Staff of One from the depths of her back. “This isn’t about them.”

“What do you have that for?”

Nico brandished the staff in front of herself and let its grip extend down. She glances up at Karolina with the tiniest glint of a smile. “I brought it in case anything sketchy went down,” she says. “But now I’m gonna use it for you.”

Karolina’s heart trips over itself. Her mind races against all the possibilities of what Nico means while the other girl stares through the eye of the Staff. Her fingers twitch for her bracelet, the strange desire to fly away before this—whatever _this_ is about to be—can make her chest feel any tighter. But her feet stay planted in the ground, next to Nico, and that feels right enough to help her swallow the panic.

Nico’s eyes flick to her briefly, before refocusing on the Staff. “Don’t look so scared,” she smirks, squaring her shoulders. The next word out of her mouth comes softly, on a single breath.

“ _Snow_.”

The Staff of One glows bright for a moment and then goes dark. Nico’s shoulders relax and Karolina opens her mouth to ask what she had just done. Then, it happens.

The first flake floats down right in front of Karolina’s nose. It lands in the grass and melts away. Her lungs stall as she stares at the spot where it disappeared. More follow the first, spotting her arms with tiny droplets as they melt against the heat of her skin. Karolina tilts her head back and is greeted by the sight of the night sky filled with thousands of gently drifting snowflakes falling towards them. They come and start to coat the ground in a fine white layer. Shocked, Karoline looks to Nico.

“Nico…” Her train of thought runs out. Nico is smiling, a real, true smile, and craning her neck back to look up at the sky. The flakes catch in her dark hair and in her eyelashes, dusting her face with freckles that fade and melt just as new ones are added. The snow collects on her shoulders and at their feet, brilliant and cold.

Karolina blinks. She’s got nothing, absolutely nothing, except the image of Nico before her running through her mind. Visons of sugar plums? Nope. Nico. Just Nico.

“I know it’s not a ‘real’ snow storm, but…” Nico starts, trailing off when she brings her gaze back down to earth, to Karolina. Her eyes soften ever so slightly at the look on her friend’s face. “Hey.”

“You…you did this for me?” Karolina stammers.

“I mean, yeah.” A blush spreads across Nico’s cheeks. “You said you wished it snowed in LA. Well, wish granted.”

A snowflake lands on the tip of Karolina’s nose. Her hand reaches out before she can stop it, searching out Nico’s free hand. Her fingers curl around Nico’s knuckles and she steps closer, so that the snowflakes melt when they fall through the combined warmth of their breath. The mulled wine scent dances lightly on the air between them. Gently, Karolina brings Nico’s hand up—slowly, so that the other can girl can draw away if she wants. She doesn’t, though.

Karolina turns her hand so that Nico’s palm faces up, the lifelines clearly visible to the stars above them. She dips her head down to press a soft kiss to the warm skin there.

“Thank you,” she mumbles into it, completely reverent to the movement of Nico’s pulse under her skin. Her heart bleeds at the feeling. She glances up at Nico, who stares down at Karolina’s lips hovering over her hand. Their eyes meet and it feels like taking off her bracelet for the first time all over again. Karolina closes her eyes and brushes her lips over the lifelines one more time. Faintly, she feels Nico’s fingers curl towards her cheek.

“Guys! It’s snowing!” Molly’s voice crashes through Karolina’s veins like ice water. She drops Nico’s hand and jerks away, turning to see Molly running towards them through the dark with Alex, Chase, and Gert following at a slower pace behind her. Molly makes a beeline for the twenty-yard circle of snow they were the center of and immediately flops into it, waving her arm and legs into a snow angel.

The others step onto the snow more warily. Karolina can feel Nico’s warmth shift away from her as they approach.

“Again, Nico?” Alex asks, holding his hand out to catch a few flakes. As he studies the tiny, crystalline shapes, the lines in his face ease slightly.

“It was on purpose this time.” Nico tells him. Her voice has a slight waver to it, but nobody seems to notice.

“This is so cool, Nico!” Molly squeals. Her hair is already caked with snow, but she’s grinning like a little kid. “Why did you do it?”

Eyes wide, Nico clears her throat. Karolina feels an anxious shiver down her spine. They try desperately not to look at each other, but fail miserably, their eyes skating around

“I—“ Karolina starts, completely prepared to lie to their friends if only to stop the look of growing panic on Nico’s face, when the cold smack of a snowball hitting her face cuts her off. She gapes at Molly and turns to find Chase and Gert standing frozen with guilty expressions behind her.

“It was her!” Chase points at Gert, dodging the snowball that flew past his ear a second later.

“Don’t throw me under the bus!” Gert yells, launching another projectile at him that he dodges easily. “It was him, Karolina. He’s a dirty liar.”

“If anyone’s a liar, it’s you.” Chase laughs as he crouches to gather enough snow for another ball.

“Hey, nobody calls my sister a liar!” Molly is up in an instant, pelting Chase with any snow she can gather. He slips through the snow trying to avoid the crossfire of both sisters, taking the time to dunk some snow on Alex’s head as he passes. Alex lets the snow drip off the top of his head for a moment before he stoops and makes a snowball in record time just to ping it into Gert’s back while she tries to hit Chase.

“Et tu, Alex?” Gert says. “I expected this betrayal from Chase, but not from you.”

Somehow, Alex and Molly band together, with Alex forming perfect snowballs and Molly tossing them with as much force as she could without actually Hulking out. Gert and Chase hid behind the patio furniture and gave returning fire when they could, but their individual accuracy couldn’t make up for the sheer volume Molly and Alex were producing.

Biting her lip, Karolina leaned down and gathered up a snowball of her own. She turned the cold shape over in her hands a few times, catching Nico’s eye in the process. Karolina cocks her hip and runs her thumb over her snowball. Nico takes one look at her and realizes what’s about to happen.

“Karolina Dean, don’t you dare—“ The snowball hits her right in the chest. Nico shrieks at the cold and lurches away, running for Chase and Gert’s hideout with the Staff in hand. A loud laugh bubbles out of Karolina’s chest. When another snowball hits her in the leg, she dashes for Alex and Molly’s spot to help return fire.

“Come on, guys. Let’s take them out.”

Her hands are cold and her clothes are wet, but the feeling in her chest is nothing but light. Alex is grinning next to her, Molly is laughing. Chase is using his own body to block for Gert, who has hit all of them in the face at least twice, and Nico…every time Nico peeks out from behind her cover and Karolina sees her smile, it lifts a weight she didn’t even know was sitting on her chest.

For a single, beautiful moment, they’re just kids playing in the snow. It feels like how things used to be and brand new, too. It feels good.

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to @ana earpshaught for her edit of Nico, Karolina, and Gert to Bazzi's 'Mine' which inspired this and to all the deanoru warriors out there. you guys are fucking wild but you make me laugh.


End file.
